Sharon Honeycutt, Editor

You write. I edit. You shine.

Tag: editing (Page 8 of 8)

Hiring an Editor: An Investment You Won’t Regret

December 17, 2015 /

Have you ever read a best seller that contained a typo or two? Of course you have. We all have. Usually, that’s the extent of it–a missing word, a missing punctuation mark, a misspelling. Something small here or there that doesn’t really interfere with your reading or enjoyment of the story, but something that reminds you that human beings (who are fallible) put that book together.

Traditionally published books that land on the best-seller list are usually under the imprint of one of the Big 5 publishers. Not always, but usually. Those organizations staff professional editors and proofreaders to ensure their books are clean and free of mistakes, and yet … as we just discussed, they often aren’t. Even after several rounds of editing and proofreading (and I do mean SEVERAL), they often aren’t perfect.

Now, I want you to think about all the time you’ve put into your book. Continue reading

Editing a Series: Do We Have to Start with Book 1?

December 10, 2015 /

Once in a while, I get hired to edit the second or third book in a series that I’m not familiar with. This happens for lots of reasons. Sometimes the author doesn’t get the first book in the series edited at all and then discovers, post-publication, that they should have, and so they decide to make the investment with subsequent books.

Sometimes an author does hire an editor for the first book in a series, but that relationship doesn’t last. Maybe the editor and the author weren’t a good match for each other (because there is a bit of chemistry involved—you want your editor to “get” you), and the author has decided to go a different way. Or maybe the editor the author hired for the first book was great but is no longer in the business, and so the author has to find someone new.

Whatever the reason, it happens once in a while that I get hired to edit a subsequent book in a series without having read the first installment(s). Is that a problem? Yes and no. Here’s what I mean.

Continue reading

Before You Hire an Editor: A Checklist

December 3, 2015 /

As a freelance editor, I’ve read many requests for proposals that say something like, “I’ve done all I can do, so now it’s your turn. Help!”

If you’ve reached a similar point and you think you’ve done all you can do, here are some points to consider to ensure you–and your manuscript–are ready to cross your editor’s desk.

Continue reading

The Happy Editor: Why I Like My Job

November 26, 2015 /

I enjoy my job, which is a blessing, I know, because I’ve worked jobs in my life that I didn’t enjoy, but I did them because I needed the paycheck. Can you relate?

Here are the biggest reasons I enjoy being an editor.

Reason #1: Variety

I never know, from one week to the next, what types of projects are going to land in my inbox. Continue reading

Meeting Deadlines with Your Editor

November 21, 2015 /

Life happens, and yes, it happens in the editing world–fairly often. Family crises, job crises, holidays, writer’s block … they can all get in the way of meeting promised deadlines.

Let’s say you were really motivated and writing 1,000 words a day on your manuscript. You’re 40,000 words in and you have 30,000 to go to wrap up your story. Simple math says you should have a draft ready to send to your editor in about a month. Cool.

You contact your editor and say, “Hey! Guess what? My book’s almost done. Can you slot a place for me starting Dec. 1?”

Your editor says, Continue reading

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